Lots of people will try a couple of recipes and then proclaim a cookbook good or bad. Well, I've used this cookbook for almost 5 months, and I've tested a lot of recipes now! My doctor recommended a Mediterranean diet when my blood pressure and weight got out of control. I had picked this cookbook up somewhere but had never used it. After my doctor read me the riot act, I dusted if off and for the last few months have cooked 50% of my meals from it. My husband, for the first time in 10 years, thinks I'm a good cook! I've lost 20 lbs and my BP is now almost in the normal range. Do I sound like a paid endorser; well, I'm not! I mean it's only part of the plan. I also eat properly at all my meals and get exercise. It's not one of those miracle plans you see on TV! But the food is beautiful, delicious, low fat and easy to prepare. What more could you want?! .... If I only owned 2-3 cookbooks this would be one of them. .... I mean it, this is just a very good book! Buy it, but only if you really plan to cook with it!

This is a great cookbook. It truly lives up to the claims of its title. The recipes with the lemon herb crepes are wonderful and I've added them to my list of things I serve company. We had the salmon picatta a couple of weeks ago and will definitely make it again. I also like how he suggests ways to tailor the recipes for vegetarians.

I'm always looking for new low-fat recipes, especially Italian, and this book is fantastic. After just a week of owning it, I can heartily recommend "Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar", "Chicken Alla Diavola" and "Mashed Potatoes with Sun-dried Tomatoes" (who've thought of that one! )

The recipes were easy to follow, simple to make (depending on your definition of simple) and offered plenty of flavour.

The introduction provides good information on various ingredients in Italian cooking (and low-fat Italian cooking), and the recipes offer antipasti, pasta in its many forms, vegetarian dishes, soups, desserts and more.

Definitely one of the best cookbook buys I've made recently!

Just write BBQ USA! Raichlen traveled the WORLD in search of BBQ recipes (over 500!) in The Barbecue Bible. I graduated from burgers, steaks and grilled chicken breasts to Tandoori Chicken, Thai, and how to grill a whole fish ifrom the 556 pages!
So, again, how do you top the definitive work on open fire cooking? BBQ USA! 774 PAGES of over 425 recipes from all over the US, INCLUDING THE comprehensive history of BBQ in the US thanks to KC Masterpiece originator, Dr. Rich Davis. There are pages and pages of biographical info on BBQ icons and institutions in the United States and even one recipe from Canada! And more pictures.
I personally feel that even as a novice, you actually could pick up this huge volume and begin almost anywhere, any recipe and be successful. The book covers the basics in the beginning chapter. Choosing and using grills and accessories and even includes basic and more advanced techniques to grilling. You'll probably see someone disagree with that statement. I defy the naysayers to name a better bbq book WRITER. Raichlen may not be in front of PBS, or Food network cameras as much as Hirsch, Flay, et al. Steven Raichlen just writes the most comprehensive books on BBQ anywhere!
I must also mention a trend I've noticed in some other cookbook writers (some very well known) that are releasing cookbooks that rearrange recipes from their previous books and call them new and sell them based on their well known names. I looked through the indexes of BBQ Bible and compared it to BBQ USA. There are no or none that I could find repeats that appear in both books.
One other thing we as Americans can be proud of is our BBQ!
God Bless our Troops
I enjoyed this book, not only for the great food recipes but the great stories and history presented. If I were stuck on a deserted island with just my Weber and Raichlen's books on BBQ, I wouldn't want to be rescued.
John Row

I very rarely read cookbooks from cover to cover, especially those the size of BBQ USA, but this is one I couldn't put down. A thorough mix of recipes, restaurants and BBQ lore this is more than a cookbook, it is a culinary history of America.
You may be wondering why you should buy this book, especially if you already own some of Raichlen's other books. (Barbecue Bible, How To Grill, etc.) This book has two advantages over his previous books.
First, this book is about barbecuing as much as it is about grilling. In his typical manner the author does cover techniques for how to grill just about any food that can hit the plate. This is interesting but I am just not sure that I need that many grilled dishes. Instead I like to work on the art form that is American BBQ - taking a worthless hunk of meat and through the judicious application of smoke and fire turning it into a scrumptious meal that will draw friends and neighbors to you backyard. This book finally has a good coverage of traditional American BBQ. For example, this book has five recipes for pulled pork. Each one is a regional variation with different ingredients and cooking methods. There is good discussion on the benefits of each of these variations leaving the home cook with information that he can use to create his own recipe. You will find the same thorough treatment given to ribs, brisket, etc.
Second, this book is about the USA. Now I don't mean to be ameri-centric but BBQ is one of those things that is part of our national personality. Our BBQ shacks and backyard pit masters are a part of our heritage, a heritage that should be appreciated and passed on. BBQ USA is a storehouse of the history, importance and meaning of BBQ to those who make it and those who eat it. It is a call to get together with friends and share time over good food and good conversation.
By the way, this book is not an introduction to grilling. If that is what you are looking for try How To Grill.

This book was very good in teaching me how to grill great foods on the grill. It gave me great ideas on what to do on the grill. Also everyone who tried the food that I cooked loved it. So from the hickory smoked ribs to any other food you can think up on the grill this is a great book.

An excellent cook book with lots of color pictures. The food is interesting and full of great flavors. The author shows a great appreciation for people who love food, love to cook but are required to eat a low fat diet. People not on low fat diets will never know it's low fat and healthy if you don't tell them.

After seeing Steven cook in Miami, I was convinced that I could easily cook healthily. This book has changed my diet, and have since lost the 15 pounds I never thought possible. marc.billing@dsquared.co

Like many people I once thought I knew everything I needed to know about grilling -- and how to do it. I own several grilling books, including Barbecue Bible by the author, and have had many successes. But until I got this book I never knew how great grilling could be. Things I have done and especially those I never thought of doing or attempting -- like a whole chicken or turkey or pineapple -- are explained in such great (and color!) detail that I am rethinking every possibility and doing it all better than before. There must be at least six photos or more for every technique -- and the details are helpful even when I am not following the recipes like skewering shrimp or chicken wings. The asparagus "rafts" were a real eye opener and have already saved dozens from a firey fate. Every time you grill you should check this book, not just to find a recipe but just to brush up or learn how to do anything on the grill. Thanks Steven!

Excellent reference book for the summer grilling season! Step by step instruction (including full color photos) on how to grill everything from asparagus to zucchini. Each chapter is divided into food groups; meat, fish, poultry, seafood and vegtables for easy reference. Even a chapter for grilled desserts! Many grilling tid-bits and secrets revealed here. Also included: getting started, care and maintaince for your grill, grill gear and many recipes.

I'm sure the seasoned "Grill Gladiator" will find nothing new in this book. But for the beginner (that would be me!!) it is full of useful information.

_____The book's greatest feature is its completeness. Raichlen covers all aspects of grilling:

1: Types of grills - Raichlen discusses the basics on gas grills, charcoal grills, hibachis, tuscan grills, smokers, you name it.

2: How to set everything up - I learned how to probperly light coals, clean and oil the grate, and test for proper temperature.

3: Recipes! - From steak to ribs to chicken, and even lobster and vegetables, Raichlen provides detailed instructions on how to cook just about anything on the grill. Plus, he even has quite a few recipes for rubs and sauces.

4: Everything else - Essential accessories, tips, and how to be a flamboyant griller can be found here.

_____In addition, the book is easy to read and logically outlined; you won't need to flip through trying to find specific information - you can find it easily once you know the layout.

_____I thought I was already an expert griller, but this book taught me A LOT of stuff, stuff that every griller should know. BUY IT!!

Having tried several recipes that turned out to be absolutely superb, I drooled at the prospect of working through the rest. I mean, the churascos served with the 3 sauces, and the chicken adobo served with the papaya and black bean vinegarette are in the top five of my all time favorite dishes (see the Barbecue! Bible for the other 3). But as I came across recipes calling for pompano, conch, grouper, the lychees, etc., I wondered how I would ever find these ingredients in Colorado. Quite simply, I can't. I've gone as far as I can go with this book...of the twenty or so recipes I've made out of this book, a half dozen have been incredible, another half dozen very good, and the rest just so-so. Quite a few are more calorific than I'd like.

This cookbook is just fantastic. It contains a broad range of recipes inspired by the flavors of Miami, from cocktails to deserts. The instructions are clearly written. Most dishes take only a short time to prepare and all of the results have been great. This book is for people who love richly flavored food but do not want to spend their entire day preparing it.

This is one of my favorite cookbooks. This has everything from appetizers to desserts. I especially like the special citrusy marinades and dressings. Some of the recipes are totally authentic Latin recipes while others are based on the original dishes. Everything I've made from this cookbook has been wonderful!

Many of these dishes are unequivocal winners--particularly the roasted vegetable terrine, big chocolate cake with sour cream frosting and the bread with onion and cumin. However, I've found a high percentage of things I would never make, either because they go well beyond my tolerance for spiciness (obviously, this wouldn't be a problem for some people) or because they involve too much fuss and elaboration. Still, I recommend this book over Raichlen's early High-Flavor, Low-Fat non-vegetarian book. Maybe I'll never make the various filo-dough concoctions or the dacquoise, but I love the "three c's cavatelli," and there are plenty of tastes yet to sample that sound appealing. Unlike the non-vegetarian book, with which I have had a few disappointments in the kitchen, everything from this volume that I've made has turned out deliciously. And the photography is simply beautiful. Mr. Raichlen, you request feedback but do not give your e-mail address! If you e-mail me, I will happily go into more detail about my experiences cooking from your books, and with suggestions about the types of dishes I would like to see.

It's true. The recipes are good and only unnecessary fat is cut out. The recipes aren't too complicated or time-consuming and I haven't had a failure yet. If you like Alice Water's Vegetables, Deborah Madison and the like, you should enjoy this cookbook. Happy Cooking!

This books and all of Deborah Madisons' cookbooks are the standards in our household. If you only purchase it for two recipes the Paella and the Lasagna, you will have added great dishes to your menus. Your friends will love them too. They have flavor, texture, are visually impressive and fun to plan a meal around.

This is one of the best books you should buy if you are into grilling and/or smoking foods. It is the one I use the most (I own about 6-8 books). If you want to upgrade the flavor of anything you cook, this is the book for you. I commonly keep some of the rubs in the pantry and usually have at least one of the barbeque sauces in the fridge. My pepper grinder has the six-pepper blend in it all the time. I have even tried a mustard and ketchup from the book with great success! You don't have to be a good chef to use this book (how hard is it to mix spices?).

A previous reviewer listed that many of the recipes contain a "hard to find" ingredient. I don't think that is an entirely fair assesment. The book author provides links in the back of the book to numerous mail order houses where you can buy all the ingredients you need. It is well worth it. I found that for a relatively modest investment in 4-6 spices (~[$$]) I have been able to make everything I have been interested in.

I really really really like this book.

I previously purchased the BBQ Bible. This is a great companion book to that. I never made my own BBQ sauce before but now I make it as much as I can. Everyone goes crazy over the sauces in this book. It was a pretty funny scene when I was trying to make two of the sauces at the same time. One was the Jack Daniel's one that hot and the other was the smokey one. Well don't try making two at once because I getting shot from two sides with bubbling sauce and you have to stir it for the whole 20 minutes. I have made some of the butters and some of the rubs. The best rub I have used was the one for the BBQ ribs that is part of a feature page in the book. I can't say enough about this book. You will enjoy it.

As the title implies, this book has some outstanding recipes for various sauces, dry rubs and other essentials for the BarBeQue fanatic. There are also recipes for ketchups, mustards, various hot sauces, sambals, chutneys, relishes, salsas. Essentially anything that goes with BarBeQue. Raichlen goes worldwide with recipes from Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, the Carribean, .... anyplace that makes BarBeQue in any form. Forget the store-bought stuff and get this book if you are at all into BarBeQue!

Dr. Chud's lower-carb cookbook "The Gourmet Prescription" is excellent. I found this book in a catalog and ordered it immediately. My husband is currently on the Adkins Diet and I was interested in expanding the amount of low-carb recipes that I have so he won't lose interest. Dr. Chud's book came to the rescue. It is divided into the Preface, which is worth reading, a section on Proteins, and a section on Carbohydrates. There are recipes for fish, poultry, pork, veal, beef, lamb and ostrich as well as salads and vegetables, beans and lentils, and fruits and fruit desserts. Try the Roasted Salmon with Herbs, the Grilled Chicken Breasts with Sun-Dried Tomato Ketchup, and Fresh Bean Salad with Parsley Buttermilk Dressing to name a few. Dr. Chud offers many recipes using roasting and stove-top smoking. Each recipe offers a nutritional analysis of calories, proteins, carbohydrates, fat, cholesterol, sodium, and fiber. And the photographs are wonderful! If you are on a lower-carbohydrate eating plan or thinking about starting one, buy this book. You will feel wonderful. Hopefully, Dr. Chud will come out soon with a sequel!

Rarely do you come across a cookbook like this! Dr.Chud's "prescription" is "Eat as though your life depends on it." Based on growing evidence that insulin plays a major role in fat storage, metabolism and appetite, Dr. Chud supports an "insulin-modulating" way of eating. For her book "The Gourmet Prescription" she has created a number of recipes that reflect her philosophy. She invites you into her kitchen and leads you step by step into creating wonderful, flavorful dishes! The photographs are mouthwatering in their appeal and the variety of foods presented impressive. You feel like you are actually in the kitchen with the author as she shares her thoughts on nutrition and how to maximize flavor using simple techniques and tools. Her heart and soul jump through the pages! As a result of using this book I have discovered new vegetables, cooking techniques etc. The smoked shrimp "fajitas" are a new family favorite. The chicken kebabs with spicy lime sauce are declicious especially when pared with the black bean salad with avocado! Everything I prepared was wonderful and there are so many other recipes that I look forward to trying! I did wish that a glycemic index for foods and a resource guide for some of the lesser known ingredients was included. Dr. Chud does include a nutritional analysis for each dish. She uses a stovetop smoker in some of her dishes. I substituted a wok and it worked great. This is a cookbook that delivers what it promises!

After many frustrating years of trying to find a healthy and satisfying approach to cooking and eating, I have finally found it in The Gourmet Prescription. I am a gourmet eater and cook who can not live very long on Martha Stewarts' recipes, nor can I entertain from any of the diet/health books available.

I have prepared 15 or so of these delicious recipes for family and friends. They have been all been wonderful. Not only did guests lick the bowl of the Moroccan Chicken Thighs, and devour the saute of Roasted Fennel and Tomatoes with Smoked Peppers, but at the end of the evening no one was uncomfortable. Something I have frequently felt at the end of an otherwise delicious and enjoyable meal. Dr. Chud is a brilliant and revolutionary chef. Her beautifully photographed book will, I hope, popularize the use of the home-smoker to bring high-flavor without the fat to foods. I strongly reccommend the Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Ancho Chile Infusion, the Warm salad of Grilled Scallops and Wilted Frisee with Smoky Ranch Dressing, and the Baked Pesto Portobellos. If you like the way you feel in the "ZONE", you'll love the way it tastes and feels when you have the right cookbook. Buy it! You'll like it! Thanks, Dr. Chud!

Among the hosts of books out there claiming to be some kind of bible or another, The Barbecue Bible, by James-Beard-winning author Steven Raichlen is one that lives up to the name. The product of years of travel--over 150,000 miles through five continents--this phonebook-thick study of fire-cooked foods is part travel diary, part history book, part cookbook, and part anthropological study. Notwithstanding the difficulty in defining exactly what cooking styles the term "barbeque" encompases, (the author uses the broadest definition) this book is primarily about grilling. Packed with over 500 recipes including sauces, rubs, side dishes, desserts and exotic drinks from around the world, Raichlen's first hand experience and pithy, "how to" lessons on technique make for easy preparation and a thoroughly interesting read. Covering nearly every posible style imagianble--from Jamaican Jerk to Indonesian Saté to North Carolina pulled pork--you'll find yourself skimming the recipes for content alone. But then, how many cook books feature recipes that begin with phrases like "The Berbers are a rugged, rug-weaving people who live in Morocco's Atlas Mountains" (when introducing a Berber marinade). The layout is clean and easy to follow, with minimal reliance on photographs, so you won't find the standard "prettier than I could ever make at home" images you see in most cookbooks. The relatively few photos that are used serve to connect recipes and techniques to there cultural origins--like images of a real South American pit barbeque, or a North African market. In all, this startlingly comprehensive book offers a wealth of knowledge and is a must have for anyone interested in improving their flare on the grill.

WoW! First of all I have been a grilling afficianado for 20 years.Probably put just about everything I could think of over fire.And figured I knew it all.WRONG!! The author has compiled a grilling book that is superb both to the novice and seasoned veteran.I have traveled to New Orleans and Southwest Louisana,Jamaica,and France in regards to food that is touched by fire LITERALLY! This is a gem for anyone who wants to taste international cuisine at its best.No photos,but who needs them!
It also is a history lesson pertaining to certain techniques.Especially Argentinian beef methods.My mouth watered as I read the 500 recipes and sauces,and I will try to make every dish mentioned.I rate this at a perfect 10+!! I reside in rural VA and have been to numerous PIG ROASTS and have had some of my own.My friends also want to purchase this excellent reference to touch up their methods.Plain enough,get this book!!
The author has outdone himself and he deserves the credit for his hardwork to compile all these interesting recipes! Also get the "HOW TO GRILL" Book,full of mouthwatering photos and techniques. A perfect 10+ AAAA+++

I can't believe some of the criticism this book has provoked. Too many ingredients per recipe? Has 'no direction'? Skips the basics? Bah! It's best to keep in mind what Raichlen is aiming for: an accurate description of different grilling techniques the world over. He draws his recipes from virtually every reach of the earth, including Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East -- obscure recipes that otherwise may not have been available without this wonderful, all-inclusive compendium. I find it hard to believe that 'all the recipes taste the same', when a Guadeloupean Crayfish in a Curry Beure Blanche is about as similar to an Iranian Saffron and Lemon Chicken as, well, fish is to fowl. (Both, by the way, are delicious...)

As far as covering the basics, he goes into concise and complete detail on all manner of technique -- everything from how to cook your basic hamburger, to how to properly segment a chicken, to how to arrange the coals in your grill. At the beginning of every major chapter, he describes how different foods should be cooked. If you look at each individual recipe that includes chicken breast, it will not include a description on how to cook chicken breast: it was covered earlier! Read the book!

In short, this book comprises an eclectic range of tasty grill recipes, all explained in detail. There is also a great deal of food history included, as well as some very helpful glossaries. This is an essential book for any griller, whether you want to learn how to get your steaks just right, or want to branch out into less familiar territory.